Recent storms bring a ray of light to the US

A worker clears snow from a parking lot after a storm hit the US Midwest [AFP]

The weather across the US has been “stuck” in a repeating pattern over the last few weeks. That has meant people across the eastern half of the country have been experiencing above average amounts of snow and rain.

Flooding towards the south and major snow delays at the airports in the north have been more the norm lately. But all of this precipitation does have a silver lining.

For more than a year, much of the US has been dealing with one of the worst droughts in over 5 decades. This has hit the American agricultural belt particularly hard, leading to rising food costs.

The two blizzards that swept through the central Plains at the end of February dumped up to 51cm of snow across the wheat belts of Texas and Oklahoma.

US meteorologists are saying that this winter’s rain and snow have eliminated the drought from Illinois eastwards. Unfortunately more precipitation is needed to bring the winter wheat crop to maturity and to aid in the seeding of upcoming corn and soybean crops.

Another series of storms is expected to bring more of the wet stuff to the same regions later on this week and into early next. Travellers may groan at this, but for farmers, it will be a little “sigh” of drought relief.